Will that still be true now? The news of the bond bid is already sweeping the Twitterverse, the right-leaning pubs and even making its way onto CNN. As has been said time and again, the majority, maybe even vast majority, of Park51’s neighbors want the community center built, so spending Lower Manhattan redevelopment funds on the project makes sense. Even Avalon, a local, admits there is good sense behind the project and the application.

But the optics appear so obviously wrong, it is rather amazing El-Gamal and company went here. Perhaps they want to test their mettle, or the mayor’s, on the matter, see just how far they can push their plans and still get the project built. Depending on one’s perspective–not The Observer‘s, mind you–this could be construed as a grab by a group connected to 9/11 making a grab for federal taxpayer dollars meant to heal decimated downtown after those very same attacks. Even if this request is totally reasonable and justified, it will only stoke the fires of unreasonable anger that already surround it.